by Nicholas Morehead

6.19.00 | The verge. Oooooh. Watch out! You’re on the verge. I’m on the verge too -
the verge of finally being done with school … again. I’m on the verge of
getting my first real job in the biz. I’m on the verge of business cards,
stock options, bylines and a shiny new laminated press pass. I’m on the verge
of student loans, health care, income taxes and consistently early mornings.

I’m on the verge of a menage-a-trois among a spit-out-your-coffee news
lead, a stylish nut graph, and a mesmerizing conclusion. I’m on the verge of
legitimately incorporating a sophisticated level of jargon. I’m on the verge
of running with certain circles and throwing around names other than my own.

I’m on the verge of beating metaphors to death, simply because I can. I’m
on the verge of the crossroads of academia and journalism. And I’m on the
verge of conscientiously questioning the very profession I currently pursue.

It’s a wild and crazy time to be both finishing up a master’s
degree in school and
starting a summer internship in the nation’s capital. I recently tacked on to a
slick online publication, and so
literally right after I submitted my last project of the spring semester, I went
to work covering technology
issues on Capitol Hill.
It didn’t take long to see the first tangible link between school and the job
- the pack journalism I had tried to understand in the classroom was now the
herd I was trying to run with in the field.

It seems virtually everybody wants to be a technology reporter these days. It
is the journalistic bandwagon, but for good reason. The material is new,
exciting and increasingly abundant. The demand for employees in the D.C. area is
high, and salaries are lucrative - at least by journalistic standards. But it is
the allure of covering something as revolutionary as this emerging medium that
surely must be the main draw.

Technology, in the form of the Internet, has provided the Fourth Estate with
a new news ’section,” and has popularized a novel medium through which this
coverage is disseminated. In an ode to the recent NBA
playoffs, the Web is doing to old
technologies what Michael Jordan did to Julius Erving - taking every
aspect of the game and simply redefining the possibilities.

But as the newest peon with a view from the bottom, I am on the verge of
wondering if some things will ever change. It was somewhat humbling to be
sent to cover a recent forensics and criminal technology conference, only to be
denied access to the various speeches because I lacked official credentials.
Where was my precious Internet then? After flirting with the irony of sneaking
in to a criminal technology expo, I chickened out and walked back to the Metro,
wishing I had studied harder in my legal aspects class.

Here’s a confession: I covet that arrogant smirk that comes with walking
past the little people waiting on a crowded line for a seat at a hot
congressional hearing on the Hill. Technology cannot give
me that smirk, and so for now I wait, and watch the anointed go by.

"You’ll see," I say, "I’ll get one of those press passes,
and then I’ll have that arrogant smirk as well, pal … can I
can you pal?"

Technology cannot get you a spot at that hearing and a seat with the bigwigs.
Nor can technology make you a critical thinker or a quick writer under deadline.
Technology also will not make the lovely Rep.
Mary Bono (R-Ca.) notice me. Of
all, that hurts the most

It hasn’t been all bad at the crossroads though. My very first reporting
assignment on United States-European Union policy on data protection
reacquainted me with a source I had met while on a school assignment last fall.
After exchanging pleasantries, he smiled and told me that I must be doing
something right.

Every day I wake up not knowing what I will be covering that day. With that
comes a terrific rush. I get the call and head to the Hill with the lessons of
the classroom fresh in my mind, and the adventures of a life in journalism
unfolding at my feet. Technology - and its ramifications - has proven itself
worthy of debate in journalism school, and it has been generous enough to give
me my first break. As school ends and a job begins, I realize I am on the verge
of becoming a technology reporter with Oh, so many stories to tell.

Mary Bono, you will notice me yet.